The Prosecutor’s Office accused and asked to arrest the renowned Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez for acts that “incite hatred” and for “conspiring” against sovereignty, in a context of apprehensions and trials open to opponents two months before the general elections. The indictment, arrest warrant, and home invasion were filed on Wednesday against Ramírez, who According to the Prosecutor’s Office, he received money through the Luisa Mercado Foundation, an entity that promotes culture, with the aim of “destabilizing” the country.
Ramírez, former vice president of President Daniel Ortega who in recent years became one of his great detractors, rejected each of the accusations. The novelist assured that by the crimes that “many worthy and brave Nicaraguans are imprisoned.” If they search his address, he added, they will only find “a house full of books.”
Incitement to hatred and violence
“An accusation was filed against Sergio Ramírez Mercado for carrying out acts that promote and incite hatred and violence”The Nicaraguan Prosecutor’s Office revealed this Thursday in a statement. The accusing body specified that the actions attributed to the writer “fall within the criminal category of conspiracy to undermine national integrity, in competition with the crime of money, property and asset laundering“typified in the penal code.
According to the Public Ministry, most of those funds “were destined to finance one of the main programs of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, the ‘Programa Medios para Nicaragua’, but in practice they were destined for purposes other than their own. of the foundation”. The Prosecutor’s Office held that these funds were diverted to finance “individuals and organizations that sought to destabilize the smooth running of the economic and social development of the country”.
Ramirez, 78 years old, He was a member of the National Reconstruction Board that took over the country after the triumph of the 1979 revolution, and was vice president of Ortega in his first term (1985-1990). In 1995 he resigned from the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) due to disagreements with the party.
Winner in 2017 of the Cervantes Prize, the most important in Spanish literature, Ramírez remains outside of Nicaragua after being interviewed by the Prosecutor’s Office as a witness in early June about his links with the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, which led the opposition candidate for the presidency Cristiana Chamorro.
At that time, the 1998 Alfaguara award for Margarita, the sea is beautifulHe explained that the financial support to the Luisa Mercado Foundation, named after his mother, was for activities of the Centroamérica Cuenta cultural platform, which annually brings together writers, storytellers and poets from around the world.
Ramírez: “They will never impose silence on me”
Ramírez reacted on his social networks to the unfounded accusation that, he affirmed, the Ortega government makes against him through the Prosecutor’s Office. “Dictatorships lack imagination and repeat their lies, their fury, their hatred, and their whims. They are the same delusions, the same blind stubbornness for power, “said the writer through a video posted on his social networks.
“Daniel Ortega has accused me through his own Prosecutor’s Office and before his own judges of the same crimes of incitement to hatred and violence, undermining of national integrity and others that I have not had time to read, accusations for which many worthy and brave Nicaraguans are imprisoned in the dungeons of the same family“Ramírez sentenced.
The award-winning writer compared the current situation with what happened in 1977. At that time, the dictator Anastasio Somoza accused him of similar crimes “when I was fighting against that dictatorship just as I am now fighting against this other.” “I am a writer committed to democracy and freedom, and I will not give up in this endeavor from where I am. My literary work for years is the work of a free man. The only weapons I have are words, and silence will never be imposed on me“he added.
Almost two months after the elections, Justice sent more than 30 detainees to trial, including five out of seven presidential hopefuls, under laws passed by the government last December. Cristiana Chamorro, who was emerging as an important rival of Ortega in the elections, is one of them.
Ortega: “Terrorists are being tried”
Daniel OrtegaThe 75-year-old was in government between 1979 and 1990, first as head of a governing board and then as president. In 1990 he was defeated by former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, but he returned to power in 2007 and remains to this day.
Although Ortega still did not refer to the situation of his former running mate, on Tuesday called opponents “terrorists” who are being held for alleged treason, and ““satanic” and “satanic” demons to Nicaraguan bishops and priests critical of their government. According to the president, his adversaries “were preparing to repeat the history of 2018 and justice is being done, that’s all, justice is being done against the terrorists. “
Ortega referred in this way to the massive protests in April 2018 against a reform of the pension system that was finally suspended, but before that plunged the country into chaos with violent protests, looting and clashes with the police that left a balance of more 300 dead. The president always assured that his government did not repress civilians but faced, as it continues to do today, a “terrorist wave” promoted by the United States.
In the elections on November 7, Ortega will seek his fifth term, fourth in a row and the second accompanied by his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.
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